OH NOOOES Don't tell them it's Okay to be a little fat!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I have been thinking of this for several days since the rash of posts about that article that suggested it is "healthy" for people to be a bit overweight. So most of my friends here know I am a nurse, and that I teach nursing at a local U. I have taught fundamentals of nursing mostly and done clinical rotations for beginning nursing students at local hospitals.
This morning I saw an article about a person who is proposing that "shaming" fat people might be a good way to encourage weight loss.
The truth as I see it in the clinical setting is that people in the later years would be wise to keep a little bit of extra weight. NOBODY says that being Very overweight is a good idea, including those people who did the research everyone is in a fit about.
As a person who has been morbidly obese, I have some personal experience with the issue. Anyone who reads the first research study discussed above, from what the news media reported, might be able to use that study to justify staying a bit overweight. Anything other than that, would be gross denial and frankly a defense used by people who are addicted. Hmm. If they don't publish that will those people find other methods to justify their overeating. Er. Duh.
Lets look at those people though for a minute, who ARE morbidly obese, desperate, but afraid that the "normal" BMI is not achievable. I know for myself , a research study that told me that if I could get part way down and be healthy would be a great motivator to try ! Look ! I don't have to lose All that weight if i can just go Part way I can be....
I stopped attending weight watchers the first time I lost over 150 pounds because I was tired out, and felt that 180 was the best I could do. Weight watchers had a hard line, goal or nothing. You are Not Good Enough if you don't go all the way (this was a long time ago, before the research that told people a loss of only 10% of excess weight brought huge benefits).
When I got all the way to goal it was because of people who supported me at every weight.

I am enjoying the comments on this blog! I have to say that I HAVE a scrawny neck and wrinkles down to my knees (but not hangy wrinkles just .... :) anyway, I love my scrawny neck. I am still Just Barely at a normal BMI. Since I have likely shrank an inch in height from being 64 years old, I imagine that I actually may still be "overweight". Slightly. Exactly like what the actual research study says is healthy for a woman my age. My cholesterol is 152 at last measure, HDL 64, LDL 92.. my other blood values are outstanding in every way, including A1C the measure of blood glucose over time. I outrun most of my 20 something students on the stairs, and keep up with the grandchildren at parks. This is not a competition between people who wish to be healthy "at any size" and those who want to be in the lower range of BMI, but truly for older people a little extra weight is a good thing. When I began to move away from the top weight of 360 something, I did so wanting to be healthy. I had just become a grandmother to my first grandson who is now in his 20's. I did not believe that I could be a "normal" weight by anyone's measure. Any focus on "healthy" is a first step to improving. Shaming people for being EITHER fat or very thin is not going to help.

The person who thought shaming is a good plan (and the same for the drs who think weight is a character flaw) is that your weight does not make you a good or bad person any more than your choice of clothes. Your choice of clothes is partly determined by your income, the availability of clothes and your choices but tells me nothing about whether you are a liar or a thief(unless maybe they are prison clothes). I think the news media has really missed the point of the findings of this study. They have published them as more weight doesn't cause health issues or that it is healthy to be heavy. I think there are a couple other points that have been missed entirely. First, you can be too thin. I too often see the message that it is always better to be thinner or at least on the bottom edge of the BMI range. People here complain about trainers who have told them that their perfectly healthy BMI is unacceptable. Clearly the study shows that there is a level of thin that is not an advantage. Second, the 10-20 pounds of middle age spread that some people get may not be as deadly as first thought. It isn't an endorsement or telling people to quit trying to eat healthy and exercise, it just means your risk of diabetes and heart disease etc aren't through the roof from a few extra pounds. Wear and tear on joints, feeling sluggish, etc may still be a problem. So live healthy and you might even lose that weight as a result. Perhaps this should tell us where we should concentrate our resources on problem solving. Third, a little extra weight in the elderly can act as extra reserves in times of health crisis. Face it, our bodies wear out. Something is going to kill us. Before we die we will likely have several illnesses that may not be the last one. A little extra may help us live to fight another die at that point. I see this in my parents. They are 88, live independently, mentally clear. This past December my Dad had to have surgery for an aneurysm(it seems skin isn't the only thing that sages as we age). He came through great but lost 15 pounds that month. If he had not had those extra pounds he might not have survived.

I agree with you. I I had not read the article but I googled Shaming to lose weight. I read the response by Cameron English. He is a writer for Science Mags. I think he like you could not believe that anyone would take this guy seriously.

Yet I found one quote he had very interesting

Moreover, a 2003 study published in Obesity Research found that doctors “view obesity as largely a behavioral problem and share our broader society's negative stereotypes about the personal attributes of obese persons.” What we have, then, is evidence that obesity has long been thought of as a character defect, even by the experts we charge with treating it, and this disdain for fatness has done absolutely nothing to makes us slimmer.

I would like to see that 2003 study. If even our doctors think obese people have a character defect.

I agree with you completely. As for the article you mention, I've got to find and read the whole thing. My first thought is who exactly would do the "shaming?"Two thirds of the population are overweight or worse. Add to that those with serious eating disorders and that leaves a very small percentage to do the "shaming."

Unfortunately, negative shaming comments are not solely aimed at the obese.Right here you can read a comment about "hating a scrawny neck," and we can expect this more and more as the "healthy at any size" movement takes hold. It's sad really and very unfortunate.

To hear that WW can think that you are not good enough is terrible. I have tried many diets over time and none of them worked. Or at least they did work but then I put all the weight back on and more. Waste of money, waste of time. I have not lost much weight being here but what I have done has stayed off. I think losing a small amount at a time is far more healthy than crash dieting every could be. No person should be shamed into thinking they are not good enough just because it is harder for them or takes them longer. In fact those who take longer are probably more likely to keep the weight off for good. As has so many times be said on SP small steps, baby steps are the way to go if you want to make a real difference to not only your weight but your health. I'm afraid most newspaper and magazine articles only print half the story and not the whole and therefore mislead the public.

I aim to be fit for my weight, and indeed I am! If I can lose weight too, that's even better, but I no longer obsess over it, just my knees would appreciate it.

My Mum, I always thought, was a borderline anorexic. In her 80's she continually complained about her paunch, and would not have it that it was not fat, but where the muscle tone had gone. She was barely 6 stones, and she had been 5'7" tall, and despite everything the doctor said, was continually curbing her eating because she was fat! It meant she had no stamina, and no resistance to disease. Admittedly she is an extreme example, but she would have been better off at a normal weight.

Also, I hate a scrawny neck, and wrinkles down to my knees! I'd rather be plump enough to fill my wrinkles out!

I still feel that way about WW. If you can't get to their recommended goal weight, your NOT GOOD ENOUGH and their charts are based on the Met Life insurance charts from the early part of this century. My personal mantra is to be as healthy as I can be, not as skinny as I can be.